Sweeney Todd - Tony's in its future?? (And reviews!)

[bigrab1018]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 4:52pm

I'm so excited! I loved the show; I hope it gets great reviews. Any predictions?

Updated On: 11/5/05 at 04:52 PM

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 4:57pm

Does anyone else think this had a small preview period? Or maybe I've just been really busy over the past couple of weeks. Seems like Jersey Boys been in previews for forever, while Sweeny just kinda opened.

[BroadwayBaby6]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 4:59pm

Brantley will love it. LeSourd will hate it...Everybody else will give it mildly favorable reviews.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:04pm

One month is not a short amount of time for previews...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:15pm

I think it'll get mostly positive reviews. A positive review from Brantley, a positive but distant review from Barnes, mixed from Talkin Broadway, positive from Bway.com...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:19pm

The BWAY.COM review is up, but we need Margo to post it after his long absence...

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:22pm

bigrab: You may want to retitle the thread 'SWEENEY TODD' REVIEWS just so another one isnt started

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:23pm

I predict far less than favorable reviews, overall.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:25pm

OK I'll do this one, but I'm heading out to see a show, so somebody else will need to continue this

Broadway.com is Very Positive:

"As sharp and glistening as a straight-edge razor, director John Doyle's stripped-down concert/theater rendition of Sweeney Todd gives the kind of buzz you don't expect, and certainly almost never get, from a Broadway show. It is the distinct hum of musical and theatrical intelligence; it is the glow of sheer brilliance as an entertainment value in itself.
There has surely never been a grimmer or bloodier musical written for the Broadway stage than this 1979 masterpiece from composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist Hugh Wheeler. And Doyle's abstract, poor-theater staging only italicizes the show's unforgiving gallows humor. But somehow the artistry of this Sweeney lifts the spirits.


Actually, I think I can guess how: By having the 10-member cast play the score while they act and sing the show, Doyle's production makes the show's craftsmanship lovingly, nakedly transparent (the deft new orchestrations are by Sarah Travis). What this production lacks in definitive acting turns, vocal virtuosity, and realistic staging—and it does have some deficits in all these departments—it gains in intimacy and intention.
______________________________________________________________

I'm no box-office prophet; I have no idea whether this Sweeney will be a hit beyond the Sondheim cult. It certainly deserves to catch on with the sort of New Yorkers who feel too cool to go to Broadway shows. But the tourists and tired businessmen? They may not get the entertainment they're looking for here, but what they do get—essentially, the best bleak, funny Gothic chamber musical ever—they're never going to forget."

http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=520661

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:26pm

Oh, Margo this makes me happy!

These thread reviews havent been the same without you

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:28pm

Well the critics mostly raved for the London version (including Brantley -- expect another love letter from him tonight) so I would guess it'll be a slate of mostly positive reviews tonight and tomorrow, with a few mixed ones here and there.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:43pm

Talkin' Broadway is up, and as usual, it's absolutely scathing. He hated it.

Congratulations, Michael Murray, you missed the point AGAIN.
Talkin' Broadway Review

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:46pm

Is Talkin Broadway EVER positive. I think the thing closest to positive that Ive seen from him was mixed with maybe the word "good" thrown in once. Honestly...

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:52pm

The man is under the impression that to get a name as a reviewer in the theatrical world, every review must be scathing and bad. He doesn't realize that the most respected critics (yes, they exist) are the ones who are fair and offer actual criticism.

[MoonOnAstring]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 6:53pm

"Finally, there's Patti LuPone. The good news is, you can understand 98% of what she sings (an excellent percentage for her). The bad news is that she's hardly allowed to be Mrs. Lovett. "

Munk... totally agree, this quote just shows HOW MUCH he missed the point. How hard is it to accept that this is a totally different interpretation, a totally different Mrs.Lovett.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:00pm

"Don't ask about the baby coffin." That cracked me up!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:04pm

The baby coffin is the one thing I hate about the show.

[MoonOnAstring]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:05pm

Really? I liked the coffin. I liked all the symbolism in general.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:06pm

I agree MUNK. It wasnt the only thing I disliked about the show but it was the only thing I hated about it. I thought it was pointless, confusing, and just...like you knew Doyle obviously wanted it to symbolize something, but what?

Don't ask me.
Updated On: 11/3/05 at 07:06 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:07pm

And if you can explain it to me with me understanding it, my hats off to ya. Because Ive been asking around and contemplating the symbolism myself for weeks to no avail.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:11pm

Oh, I thought it was brilliant. It was very imaginative, and the uneasy feeling I got when Sweeney was rocking it like a baby was priceless.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:12pm

Oh, and its not a review, but while you all are waiting....
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/theater/newsandfeatures/30ish.html

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:12pm

the baby coffin is dumb.

[MoonOnAstring]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:13pm

I don't know, I hate imposing my own interpretations on people... to me, it pretty clearly represented the ultimate loss of Joanna... when Sweeney accepted the fact that he would never see her again. The "relationship" between Sweeney and the coffin was really focused on during the second act "Joanna" and when he sang the line

"And though I'll think of you, I guess,
Until the day I die,I think I miss you less and less
As every day goes by"

he holds and looks at the coffin.

I also think it represents his complete fall into madness. In Act I, he was bent on revenge, but his main purpose was to get Joanna back. However, in "Epiphany" he realizes that probably won't ever happen, and his desire for revenge consumes him.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 11/3/05 at 7:15pm

I have to say the talkin' broadway review is one of the most proposterous things I've ever read. Is it trying to say that Broadway has become cold and intellectual and needs more flash and jazz hands? It reads like a love letter to Good Vibrations. Sweeney Todd is by NO means the norm on broadway right now, I kind of wish it were...then again I also IMMENSLY enjoyed David Leaveaux's two mentioned revivals. I have no problem with people giving things I enjoy bad reviews, but I've never read such an unfounded mean spirited review in my life.